Student Birthdays Made Easy!

Monday, July 11, 2016

I don't know about you, but if I'm not organized ahead of time with student birthdays I will undoubtedly forget one until the student casually mentions that it's his/her special day. In which case, I plaster that great big smile on my face while my heart begins to race and my brain is spinning trying to think of how I can make the day special now.

That all changed a couple of years ago when I realized that planning for student birthdays was something I could do during the summer and be checked off of my to-do list for the school year!

So, while I want the day to be a special one for my students, I want it to be one less thing for me to organize during the daily grind of the school year.

The Gift:

{This post contains affiliate links.}

To make sure the day is special, I do like to give my students a little gift. I create these birthday sundae cups during the summer and store them so they are ready to place on students' desks on their big days. If I've forgotten a birthday - no problem, I have these on hand and ready to go!

I buy the cups from Amazon for convenience (hello, Prime love!) but I've also went to my local Starbucks for donations in the past.

I fill the cups with a few little treats (think bookmarks, candy, erasers, etc.) along with a No Homework Pass and then add white crinkle paper on top to look like whipped cream.

I punch a hole in the cup lid and then stick a pre-sharpened Happy Birthday pencil into the hole to look like a straw.

Finally, I top it off with a "cherry" sucker sticking out of the hole in the top and add a label to the cup.

It really is a simple little treat, but it looks so special sitting on the birthday kid's desk! They eat them up. :)

The Card:
I also place a Happy Birthday Certificate on the counter so that classmates can sign it throughout the day. Everyone likes to receive birthday wishes from all of their friends and what a precious keepsake it makes.

If you have a special classroom theme, you can find themed birthday certificates in all of my theme décor packs. I'll be using the Superhero ones this year and know that my little marvels will love them!

The Song:
Finally, we have a special cheer that we sing to the birthday child. I change it up from the traditional birthday song, as my students were getting WAY too silly with that. This cheer is more of a bootcamp style chant and they love that it's different!

If they birthday kid is a girl, the girls will lead off with the boys echoing and if the birthday kid is a boy, the boys will lead off with the girls echoing. Everyone joins in on the last line to make the birthday kid feel extra special.

Throughout the day, I let the birthday student be the line leader so that they're feeling a little birthday love all day long. That's it! Birthdays are a breeze with pre-prepped gifts and students feel extra special with a little birthday love from the teacher and wishes from classmates.

If you would like to use these ideas, you can grab them all in this birthday FREEBIE from my shop! Enjoy!

I love this idea! I am so stealing it, as in the past all I've done is a birthday pencil and a card, which is a little lame by itself. But all "wrapped up" as a sundae, it looks adorable and special. So glad I happened upon your blog! I also teach 2nd grade, in Columbus, OH.

Hi Jennifer,I linked to the exact cup I purchased on Amazon - it was 16 oz. I also linked to the FREEBIE that includes the labels and cheer. Click on the word FREEBIE in the last sentence of my post to head to my shop to grab it. :)

Thank you for sharing such wonderful ideas and resources Amanda. This is just so adorable! I have been following you and have purchased some of your products for my classroom. I am completely mesmerized by your Lesson Planning and organization therefore I am "attempting" to recreate using your templates. My hope is that I can be somewhat as organized as you are and save myself from the yearly duplication and waste of time. I am fairly adept with tables in Word however I am running into some formatting issues with the Planning Calendar. I am wondering if you by chance are planning on updating the template for 2016-2017 or if you would be willing to offer that for your followers? I'd be grateful for any guidance you might offer!!! bolling_kelly@asdk12.org

I absolutely LOVE this idea Amanda! What a wonderful way to make a kiddo feel special on his/her birthday. I do have a question. What size labels do you use for the outside of the cups? I see there is a round label and a rectangular one. Thank you for sharing!

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